Plowden (1967)

Volume 1 The Report

556 pages containing the Report's 32 chapters, notes of reservation, three annexes, glossary and index, complete with all the diagrams, graphs, tables and footnotes.

Volume 2 Research and Surveys

633 pages containing the Report's 14 appendices including the 1964 National Survey of parental attitudes and circumstances related to school and pupil characteristics.

Articles about Plowden

Ten articles written in 1987 on the 20th anniversary of the publication of the Report.

A Report of the Central Advisory Council for Education (England)

London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1967
© Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland.

Notes on the text

The Plowden Report was published in two volumes.

Volume 1: Report (556 pages) contains the report itself, consisting of 32 chapters, notes of reservation, three annexes, a glossary and an index.

Volume 2: Research and Surveys (633 pages) contains the research and surveys which underpinned the report.

The full text of both volumes is online, including the diagrams, graphs, tables and footnotes which appeared in the original.

The 32 chapters of Volume 1 and the 14 appendices of Volume 2 are presented in separate web pages.

Since there aren't pages as such in the web version, footnotes in Volume 1 appear after the paragraph to which they refer; in Volume 2 they are collected together (and renumbered) at the end of each appendix.

Anything added by way of explanation is shown [in square brackets].

I have updated the spelling of a handful of words ('cooperation' instead of 'co-operation', 'staffroom' instead of 'staff room' etc), corrected a few misprints and removed some redundant commas. Otherwise, what you see here is what appeared in the original print version.

I have endeavoured to ensure accuracy in the text, but if you spot any errors, I'd be grateful if you'd send me an email.

Tables
The two volumes of Plowden contain more than 400 tables, 60 or so diagrams and 46 photographs.

In this web version, some tables and diagrams are embedded in the text. Most, especially the larger ones, are shown as links in the text - clicking on one opens a pop-up window displaying the relevant table or diagram. In the case of Volume 1, all the tables, diagrams and photographs can also be accessed from the Tables, Diagrams and Photographs page. (The scanned versions of the photographs are adequate rather than brilliant!)

Where a table or diagram is larger than the pop-up window, your web browser should display scroll bars. If it does not, either enlarge the window using the handle at the bottom right of its frame, or grab part of the table with your mouse and drag downwards to see the rest of the table.

If you normally have your browser set to display a large font size, you may find that some tables look better if you reduce the font size.

I have presented most of the tables in grids - I think this makes them easier to read on a screen.

If you have problems accessing the tables, please let me know.

Articles about Plowden

Here are ten articles about the Plowden Report, all written in 1987 on the 20th anniversary of its publication.

In addition to my own contribution, there are pieces by AH Halsey and Kathy Sylva, Maurice Kogan, George Smith, David Winkley, Neville Bennett, Maurice Galton, Philip Gammage, Andrew M Wilkinson and Bridget Plowden herself.

There are also links to a some Plowden-related pages on other websites.